Godmothered Movie Review: Jillian Bell and Isla Fisher’s Disney Flick Could Have Used Some Christmas Magic in Its Ordinary Script (LatestLY Exclusive)

Godmothered Movie Review: It can't be a Disney movie without an animal behaving like a dog. In Godmothered, the new Disney movie aimed for the Christmas season, you have a pig that acts like a dog, though to be fair, it used to be a dog before it was turned into swine by Eleanor (Jillian Bell). Who is she? Well, Eleanor is a young, enthusiastic trainee fairy godmother who learns one day that Motherland, the place where her ilk dwells, is shutting down. Apparently, the fairy godmother business is not seeing much luck. Godmothered Trailer: Jillian Bell Is the Clumsy Fairy-Godmother That Isla Fisher Did Not Ask For.

Determined to prove the notion wrong, Eleanor rebels and escapes to the human world to fulfil the wish of one little girl who had once written to her, and give her a 'Happily Ever After'. To her shock, Eleanor realises that that girl is now a woman, Mackenzie Walsh (Isla Fisher) who is a single mother to two girls. Her husband has left her and she is stuck in a deadbeat media job. Mackenzie has no hopes about having a  'Happily Ever After' but Eleanor is determined to give her that. Even if it means turning her life topsy-turvy with her clumsy magic and naive nature.

Watch the Trailer:

Godmothered is the kind of harmless Disney Christmas movies you expect from the studio at this time of the year, and it doesn't disappoint in straying away from your expectations. If you want to watch a flick with your whole family, the film comes across as a serviceable entertainer with fantasy elements to appeal to the kids and some Xmas magic for the family. Both Jillian Bell and Isla Fisher are actresses with competent comic skills, and they play their characters well. Jillian, especially, is the heart and soul of the film, turning in an entertaining act that sparkles innocence and hilarity. There are some very feel-good moments that do get you, like that rendition of "My Favourite Things" in the snow. And since it is Disney, there is also a "Sound of Music" moment too!

Godmothered is directed by Sharon Maguire of Bridget Jones' Diary fame, so the touches of feminism aren't to be missed. Though, like her most renowned work, doesn't get explored fully. Which is a problem with Godmothered in other themes too. Let's ignore the fact of how easily the humans lap up the idea of having the realisation that real magic exists, be it Mackenzie's kids or later the rest of the town. Godmothered's problems lie in how it doesn't bother to be anything else than a Xmas caper.

The movie keeps harping on resting the idea of having a Prince as the girl's Happily Ever After. In case of Mackenzie, Eleanor thinks she has that in her righteous colleague (Santiago Cabrera), whose second name ends in, you guessed right, Prince!

But in the end, during a well-attended Christmas skit, it is told that a girl's Happily Ever After doesn't need to end with a Prince Charming. Cool idea, only if Disney hasn't done the same with its previous films like Maleficent and Frozen.

It also tries to half-heartedly address middle-age crisis and their disillusionment with fantasies. Again, which the studio did better with the hugely underrated Christopher Robin. We also get this track of how Mackenzie's news channel depends on audience-tricking quirks to boost their ratings, without bothering to check the veracity of the news. In a hilarious, perhaps unintentional casting, the channel is headed by an Indian (Utkarsh Ambudkar). I half-expected him to come on screen and shout 'The Nation Wants to Know!' While nothing of that sort happened, even the media fallacies aren't done much justice.

With none of those themes working out, Godmothered is satisfied in sticking to a formula, where every trouble is easily solved and all get a happy ending! Perhaps this was Disney's way of feeling bad that we are having a sucky year and thought of giving us something cheery without thinking too much. For the rest of us, TENET is releasing in India this week as well!

Yay!

- Some Feel-Good Moments

Nay!

- A Perfunctory Disney Entertainer

Final Thoughts

Godmothered is a harmless flick made for the families that comes across as one-time decent Christmas entertainer, not aiming to be anything else. While there is plenty of magic in the film, we wish the writers use their want to add more magic in the screenplay. Godmothered is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 03, 2020 01:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).